THE IMPERMANENCE OF LIFE

“It is not the impermanence what makes us suffer, is wanting things to be permanent, when they are not”

• Thich Nhat Hanh –

The impermanent nature of life and its continuous changes is one of the main causes of suffering for humanity.

Why? Probably every reader will have her or his own answer. For me, part of the answer is because we fear the unknown. Sometimes we feel more comfortable living in a situation that is not the best, but is familiar to us. And we prefer to stay on the “safe” side of the fence rather than crossing over to face the unexpected.

We struggle with impermanence, which causes us much suffering. As the quote at the beginning of the article denotes, we want things to be the way we want them to be.  We feel we need to control situations to avoid suffering, and we ignore the fact that we cannot change what is unchangeable. Change is part of the way life was structured since the beginning of the world. We have no control over the rhythm of life.

If we observe nature, we can learn important lessons that will help us accept change because it is part of the wisdom of the Divine Creator and His creation process. Everything has a beginning and an end. The day starts with the sunrise and ends with the sunset to give space to the moon and stars to bring their own beauty and magnificence inside the profound silence of the night, remembering us the wisdom of God that provides us with light time to work and create, as well as time of silence to rest, meditate, and pray.

We can also observe the wisdom of the seasons and its obedience to the laws of nature. They come in cycles that allow us to appreciate its beauty without forcing us to live within a unique rhythm. Every season brings us beauty and time for reflection. They are in perfect order. The winter prepares the earth for the renewal of life, while we are able to admire the magnificence of the snow.

We sometimes focus only on how uncomfortable is to have cold weather, I have to confess it happens to me, and of course I am missing the beauty of the landscape with its multiple trees decorated by nature, as well as the miracle of the snow that provides us with the water we need during the rest of the year.

Spring brings us the gift of  green colors, flowers that blossom everywhere, music of water streams, singing of birds, and the renewal of life. Summer offers us the plenitude of life, the splendor of sunny days, the reflection of  knowing that even if we are living the best time of life, it is not permanent; summer will end soon. Autumn with the change of colors remind us the inevitable changes of life and prepare us for the autumn of our lives that someday will come even if  now we are living in the plenitude of our youth.

I love nature because of its beauty, wisdom, and lessons. I enjoy walking in nature, and I feel blessed for living in a place that allows me to do my walks along a stream of water with lots of trees and shrubberies. I  often stop on a wood bridge that crosses over the water to contemplate in silence its flow without resistance. I wish I could let my life flow in the same way. I also reflect on the impermanence of life. That stream off water one day will become part of a river, and the river will temporarily die when it reaches the sea.

 But that is not the end of the stream of water, or the river. The water will evaporate, and it will come back in form of rain to nurture the stream of water and start over its own cycle. Life never ends, we as human have the essence of our spirit that won’t die. We will also go through a process of transformation, but we are eternal, only our bodies will die.

It is interesting to observe the cycles of life. Our own bodies are in constant change and renewal. The lining of our stomach is renewed every four days, the stomach cells that come into contact with digesting food can be replaced every five minutes. Our entire skeletal structures are regenerated every three months. Researchers at Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have identified a mechanism that plays an important role in the process of regeneration of the intestinal lining.

I researched that information because I wanted to make the point that everything in life is impermanent including our bodies. I considered that maybe this type of information could help us better understand the impermanence of life and how our bodies are part of the cycles of creation. (If you would like to learn more about the mechanism discovered by the Harvard medical school about regeneration of the inner intestinal lining, you can read it on the following link

Understanding how the intestine replaces and repairs itself

It is my personal belief that acceptance of life as it comes is the cure of our psychological illnesses. Living in the present moment is the key to enjoy life. It is what makes every moment precious because that moment won’t

ever repeat itself once it is gone. The impermanence of life offers us uncountable opportunities to value what we have and enjoy life in all its plenitude. Quoting from the book “Seeking the Heart of Wisdom”,  “ Each moment we are being born and dying – The sound we just heard is already gone, it died, and we died with it. To live fully is to let go and die with each passing moment and to be reborn, in each new moment.”

I would like to end this article with a paragraph wrote by Paul T.P. Wong and found at positivepsychology.com that I believe help us cope with the reality of the impermanence of life and accepting that life is made of constant change. Life is filled  of happy as well as difficult moments, and none of them will last forever.

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We each have the capacity to enjoy our lives completely as long as we understand that negative situations are unavoidable and none of our experiences last forever. Everything in our life, including yourself, has an expiration date.”

Mindfulness meditation practice is an inward process of letting go, that help us cope with the impermanence of life. We must die to our attachments, our hopes, and plans, to our fears and expectations. To be present in the meditation practice we have to let go of all. It is a process of letting go.               We need to forget about our opinions or saying, “I am going to live this way and do this thing.”

It is natural for us to have dreams and plans, as long as we are conscious that something unexpected can change them. We can prepare to live in acceptance of what life offers us, which in many occasions is even better than what we had planned. Unfortunately, in other occasions these unexpected changes will bring us challenges and pain. Keep in mind that nothing lasts forever, no happiness, no pain. As long as we are not attached to an outcome, and we learn to live in surrender and acceptance, we will be able to  safely navigate our life.

I highly recommend based on my personal life the practice of mindfulness not only in meditation but throughout the day, paying attention to our thoughts, our words, our emotions, and actions without judging ourselves, just observing the experience by itself.

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